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HomeKit accessories are always near the top of my holiday wishlist every year. I love making my home as smart as possible, but it’s often hard to justify spending my own money on these types of accessories.

Here are some of my go-to smart home recommendations for holiday shopping this year … and they all integrate with Apple’s HomeKit platform.

The last few years have brought the Mac new growth and innovation thanks to Apple silicon. But there are still several limitations the Mac has when compared to its potential. Fortunately, two such annoyances sound like they’re on track to finally being put to rest.

Apple is the best-run company in the United States, according to this year’s Management Top 250 ranking from the Drucker Institute. Apple dethroned Microsoft for the title, which had held it for the past four years. Microsoft slipped to third place this year, while Nvidia ascended the charts to second place.

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust legislation compelled Apple to grant developers greater access to the iPhone’s NFC reader, and this change was implemented earlier this year with iOS 17.4. Now, the Norwegian payment platform “Vipps” has become the first to use the new API to let users pay with NFC directly from its iPhone app.

Today, OpenAI continued its 12 days of product announcements with a big one: Sora, its video generation model, is now available to the public. Here’s everything it can do.

If your desk is a battlefield of cables and chargers fighting for outlets, you’ll want to check out the Baseus Nomos 5-in-1 Charging Station. With plenty of USB ports, a retractable USB-C cable to charge your laptop, and a MagSafe dock, it might be the perfect all-in-one desktop charging station.

Next year’s iPhone 17 Air continues to get more detailed spec leaks. The latest report gives us our best understanding yet of exactly how much thinner the new device will be.

Apple has released updated RC (release candidate) builds for iOS 18.2, macOS 15.2 RC, and more software betas. These follow the first RC versions that arrived last week, and come ahead of the expected public launches some time this week.

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a regular discussion point for many AI companies, but it seems that Apple has a radically different view than the majority. Here’s what the company just revealed.

Apple’s vice president of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji became known for his work leading the development of Apple Silicon chips, which have become a fundamental part of the company’s products. While there are no signs that Srouji wants to leave Apple any time soon, it seems that Intel is keeping a close eye on him for a potential new CEO.

Apple has big plans for the future of MacBook Pro displays. A new timeline from research firm Omdia reveals that Apple aims to transition the MacBook Pro from mini-LED to OLED displays as soon as 2026.

As part of this change, Apple reportedly plans to ditch the MacBook Pro’s notch cutout…

iOS 18.2 is expected to arrive this week, so it could be any day now. It’s a huge software update that includes some of the best, most powerful Apple Intelligence features yet. Here’s the full list of AI features coming soon.

Apple TV+ has revealed its next movie release, and it’s a little bizarre and still very mysterious. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller, The Gorge looks like part thriller, part horror, with some romance thrown in and a Valentine’s Day release. Here’s the trailer.

Apple is reportedly set to launch the iPhone SE 4 in just a few short months. The update will bring a dramatic overhaul to Apple’s most affordable iPhone.

A new supply chain report this week has some additional details on what to expect from the iPhone SE 4’s camera hardware.

Apple today announced that it would be expanding its retail presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the online store opening in 2025, and physical stores opening in 2026.

Apple introduced the Pro Display XDR in 2019 with its $4999 price tag, no included stand, and an optional Pro Stand for $999. Since then, despite all of the advancements in display technology, Apple has left it untouched. While there isn’t a ton to go off of, there are a couple of smaller details that give us an idea on what Apple is working on.

Seemingly, for the first time in forever, Apple will be updating every single Mac with an M4 chip, presuming rumors hold correct. There have been a number of times where this has been close, but it hasn’t happened anytime in the past decade, at least.

Apple’s had a very eventful fall, with a jam packed September event, an iPad mini 7 launch in mid October, followed up by an “exciting week of announcements” at the end of the month.

With all of those new product announcements, there were also a number of discontinuations of older products, meaning they’re no longer available to purchase from the Apple Store. However, there’s still good deals to find on last gen products from third parties.

Apple skipped updating their cheapest iPad this year (and last year as well), leaving it with the over four year old A14 chipset. They did lower the price earlier this year, from $449 to $349, but we should finally see a real refresh next spring. Here’s what to expect.

According to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple is planning on supporting typical VR game controllers on Apple Vision Pro, and has apparently approached Sony to get going on this. This will hopefully make Apple Vision Pro more appealing for gaming, something that the product doesn’t currently do super well.